Job summary
- Main area
- Community Health Services
- Grade
- Band 8c
- Contract
- Permanent
- Hours
- Full time - 37.5 hours per week
- Job ref
- 351-SPS1562-EB
- Employer
- Lancashire & South Cumbria NHS Foundation Trust
- Employer type
- NHS
- Site
- Guild Lodge
- Town
- Preston
- Salary
- £76,965 - £88,682 per annum
- Salary period
- Yearly
- Closing
- 13/01/2026 23:59
Employer heading
Consultant Clinical Psychologist
Band 8c
Our Vision is to provide the best mental health, learning disability, autism, community, and physical health services for the populations we serve.
As an integrated Trust, Lancashire and South Cumbria NHS Foundation Trust (LSCFT) delivers a comprehensive range of services, including:
- Primary and secondary mental health care for children and adults, including specialist inpatient child and adolescent mental health provision, perinatal mental health, and forensic services with low and medium secure care.
- Specialist mental health inpatient care for individuals with learning disabilities, alongside specialist community support for children and adults with learning disabilities and autism, including intensive support.
- Extensive community physical health and well-being services for children and adults, covering prevention, treatment, rehabilitation, and long-term condition management.
The Trust was first established in 2002 and employs approximately 7,500 staff who provide care from more than 400 sites. The organisation offers opportunities for medics, mental health, general nurses, children’s nurses, allied health professionals, psychology, administration and clerical staff, apprentices and volunteers, as well as those specialising in learning disabilities and community physical health services.
For more information visit our website via Lancashire & South Cumbria NHS FT.
Job overview
We are excited to announce a fantastic opportunity has arisen for an 8c Consultant Clinical Psychologist to be the Psychology Lead for Inpatient Psychology Services at Guild Lodge Secure Mental Health Inpatient Hospital.
Guild Lodge is a regional secure unit and provides medium secure, low secure and step down provision for both men and women with complex mental health difficulties, as well as a specialist pathway for men with acquired brain injury.
An experienced candidate is required to provide psychological leadership and clinical supervision into the inpatient psychology service, and to work closely with their counterpart in the community service to ensure continuity in the application of psychological input across the transition. The successful applicant will work alongside a well established, dedicated psychology team to ensure a high standard of psychological service.
Staff support is paramount to us. We have a dedicated therapy service for staff who have experienced trauma as well as workplace trauma support which continues to be rolled out trust wide. Furthermore, psychology has developed a leadership development programme for psychological professionals aiming to support colleagues in their development and confidence in providing and developing their leadership skills.
Main duties of the job
We are seeking a dynamic and enthusiastic person with a range and depth of experience of working in secure care. Relevant experience would include expertise in risk assessment and formulation, management of personality disorder, interventions for psychosis, accreditation/ expertise in at least one model of a relevant therapy, and a track record of delivering supervision and other aspects of clinical leadership to psychology and non-psychology staff.
The successful post holder would be expected to
Work as a senior member of the service to assist in providing clinical leadership, supervision and strategic service development to the forensic inpatient service.
Work closely with other senior clinical and managerial staff within Guild Lodge to provide a psychological perspective to service planning, service development and clinical service transformation.
Hold a clinical case load within the Inpatient forensic service.
Contribute to LSCFT wide discussions regarding Forensic inpatient services
Provide supervision
Provide consultation to colleagues and other services
Provide governance/ oversight for interventions, referrals, waiting lists and clinical delivery.
If you are considering a psychological profession’s post here at LSCFT we encourage you to contact us and we would be very happy to talk further about the opportunities available – we look forward to hearing from you!
Working for our organisation
LSCFT values diversity and inclusion, recognising that talent from varied backgrounds creates a flexible, creative, and effective workforce. We actively challenge discrimination and welcome applications from all, regardless of age, disability (including those with experience of accessing or caring for someone who has accessed mental health or learning disability services), ethnicity, gender, religion, belief, or sexual orientation.
Our aim is to reflect the communities we serve, so we particularly encourage applications from under-represented groups. If you’d like to discuss your application, please ask.
We also welcome individuals with lived experience relevant to the role or service area, as your insight brings authenticity to our services.
LSCFT support flexible working, we believe that a positive work/life balance benefits NHS employees through improved health and wellbeing. We would consider working patterns such as term time, part time, compressed hours and flexi-time.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
Here at LSCFT we are a dedicated and passionate community of psychological professionals. We are committed to staff support and CPD and encourage opportunities for colleagues to undertake innovative work or ‘passion projects’ where appropriate to their job roles. We have an annual psychological professionals conference which is always well attended, as well as trust support for innovative psychological practice as supported by our psychological professionals’ governance group. We aim to provide a culture of unity and joined up working with colleagues and we feel there is a strong sense of community and psychological identity here.
Please see attached the job description and person specification for more information about this role.
When completing the supporting information section of your application, please ensure you show how you meet each of the criteria of the person specification providing illustrative examples where possible; as this is what you will be shortlisted against.
Person specification
Qualifications
Essential criteria
- Post-graduate doctoral level training in clinical psychology (or the equivalent for those trained prior to 1996) as accredited by the BPS, specifically including models of psychopathology, clinical psychometrics and neuropsychology, two or more distinct psychological therapies and lifespan developmental psychology
- HCPC registered as a practitioner psychologist
- Eligibility for consultant psychologist appointment approval from external BPS assessor
Experience
Essential criteria
- Substantial post qualification experience including experience within the designated specialty/type of service
- Experience of working with a wide variety of client groups across the whole life course, in various settings including outpatient, community, primary care inpatient and residential care settings. Also including maintaining a high degree of professionalism in the face of highly emotive and distressing problems, verbal abuse and threats of physical abuse.
- Experience of exercising full clinical responsibilities for clients’ psychological care and treatment, both as a professionally qualified
Knowledge
Essential criteria
- Doctoral level knowledge of psychology, including highly developed knowledge of lifespan developmental psychology, models of psychopathology, clinical psychometrics and neuropsychology and two or more distinct psychological therapies
- Skills in the use of complex methods of psychological assessment, intervention and management frequently requiring sustained and intense concentration.
- A high level ability to communicate effectively at both a written and oral level complex, highly technical and clinically sensitive information to clients, their families, carers and a wide range of lay and professional persons within and outside the NHS.
Applicant requirements
You must have appropriate UK professional registration.
This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service.
Documents to download
Further details / informal visits contact
- Name
- Dr Rebecca Brockhouse
- Job title
- Associate Director for Psychological Professions
- Email address
- [email protected]
- Additional information
Alternative contact details:
James Harper - Associate Director of Operations for Forensic Services - The Bay Network
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